Mantic: 2019 is a Good Year to Jump Into ‘All Out War’
If you’re looking for a fun, post-apocalyptic skirmish with dangers coming from every direction – you need to check this one out. If you’re already playing, come see what you’ll be able to add to your games this year.
Walking Dead: All Out War includes a bunch of factions that are all battling against each other – and the walkers that are bent on chomping on them. There’s a lot ahead for the game, including a new wargaming book. Ronnie Renton, Mantic’s head hancho, lays out what’s ahead for the zombie infested skirmish game…
We have now got a really great range of plastic minis out for the Walking Dead. Wave 5 hit in September with the Hunters – and Negan’s faction got released via the most awesome Here’s Negan game.
The initial waves both built the cast of characters, and also allowed gamers and fans to play through the narrative straight form the books, basically offering you a chance to do it better than Rick. However, there were limited options for really solid PvP play – both because there weren’t enough models to choose from – and also the narrative was mostly about staying alive, finding resources and out of reach of the Walkers!
Now we are through 6 waves (including Here’s Negan and a few specials) there is a superb selection of both goodies, baddies and neutrals to choose from. This gives a real choice when it comes to selecting a force. We have also started to see some fantastic organised (PvP) play for TWD starting to break out, using the 2 player scenarios scattered throughout the first expansions, such as Woodbury and Fear the Hunters. And these events have been fantastic – both gaming and visually.
That time is now…
Once Rick and the gang hit Alexandria the whole narrative shifts from survival, to war between the competing ideologies.
We feel it’s time to reflect those development in our releases! I’ve mentioned it briefly before but work is already well underway on a fully blown PvP skirmish game set in the world of the Walking Dead.
It’s gang warfare out there…
You’ll be able to pick your gang, based around your leader (whose outlook and skills will be reflected in their leadership abilities on the table) and then team up lethal combos of characters – to make your gang a killing force to be reckoned with. This means you can pick Rick, or Negan, or Ezekiel, or the Governor, or several others… then add their key lieutenants. You then bulk out their force with some grunts. And off you go.
Each leader will have unique abilities, and each sub group has special abilities, so you can work your models in pairs or threes to take down enemies or create space for clear shots. You’ll be able to add appropriate allies (so good with good and neutral, and the same for evil) and these will come with their own combos – so the Hunters, or the Prisoners, will each have their own unique combo moves – and you can add those to any faction with evil or neutral alignment – but never to Rick’s crusading crew.
And then you can layer it up with equipment too. But we have been watching – and while I’m sure you’ll all find some hard core choices to add to your list, we have been balancing out the most obvious excesses – both gaming spam and being more specific about what equipment can be added to which weapons.
Game changers…
We will be kicking off with 6 scenarios to fight over, so every game will be a different objective, but also different scoring possibilities to keep every game dynamic – and no force type (elite, horde etc.) will be able to dominate every mission.
And of course there will be those damn Walkers – just getting in the way! We are streamlining some of the mechanics from the narrative style play to allow more actions from each player, but the Walkers will still be there to stop your match-winning attack, or biting your sniper, just when they are about to take out your enemy’s leader.
We have already got the alpha rules together and we have been playing them internally and with the RC. We are planning an alpha play day in January (so if you can travel to HQ and can play TWD to a good level, feel free to message us via [email protected]). We will have something to share in the next few weeks after that, so if you fancy getting involved then make sure you are signed up for the newsletter.
Learn more about All Out War on Mantic’s website!
